Jan. 16, 2013

Noam Bramson

Written by

Bill Ryan

Ken Jenkins

Rob Astorino

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Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino has $2.2 million in the bank for his re-election race after raising more than $1 million in the last six months.

The Republican has a major financial head start on his three Democratic challengers, but two of them are picking up their fundraising as they try to raise enough to match his spending. One challenger, New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson, raised $426,870 in the four weeks since he declared his candidacy. Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins raised $180,774 and has $218,000 on hand.

With money transferred from his mayoral campaign account, Bramson has more than $525,000 on hand, according to filings Tuesday with the state Board of Elections that include donations and expenditures through Friday. The campaign will likely raise and spend more than $2 million, said Jeremy Sherber, Bramson’s campaign manager.

Sherber said Democrats need the strongest possible candidate to go up against Astorino. The party has a lopsided registration advantage, but Astorino was able to pull out a decisive win against Democratic County Executive Andrew Spano in 2009.

“He’s a formidable fundraiser,” Sherber said. “He’s got a big head start, and he will have nearly unlimited resources.”

With this amount of money raised so early in the year, the total spending on the executive race could exceed the millions spent in 2009, especially if the Democrats get into a heated primary. In the last race, Spano spent $2.3 million and Astorino spent $1.4 million.

County Legislator Bill Ryan, the third Democrat in the race, raised only $250 and has $43,000 on hand in his county legislature election committee.

Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Astorino’s campaign, which raised $442,271 in just over a week after putting out an email appeal for $45,000, said the pace of donations is a reflection of the desire to see him re-elected.

“When you’re focused on delivering results for people, the rest will follow,” she said.

Jenkins said his campaign has more on hand than Astorino did in January 2009, when he went on to beat Spano. His goal, Jenkins said, is to raise $2 million if there is a Democratic primary and $1.2 million to $1.5 million if not.

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“We need to have enough money to run a good on-the-ground campaign,” he said.

Jenkins said he will be able to attract money from outside the county and state because of the historic nature of his campaign as the first African-American to run for Westchester county executive.

Astorino’s median donation was $250, Proud said, and more than 650 people donated. About half gave $100 or less. His list of contributors includes county officials such as Budget Director Lawrence Soule and Social Services Deputy Commissioner Philippe Gille. Television personality Donald Trump gave Astorino $10,000 on Jan. 11. Corporations and other groups such as unions and political action committees gave him $344,000. Cablevision Systems New York PAC contributed $9,000 over six months.

Sherber said there were 675 donors to Bramson’s campaign, 85 percent from within Westchester County. The median contribution was $150. Of the $426,000 raised, $59,000 came from family members. The campaign spent $6,800 on its first mailing.

Some of Jenkins’ donations came from Board of Legislators staff and political figures such as Legislator Peter Harckham, his majority leader, and former county Legislator John Nonna. Several Yonkers and county unions also contributed, including the county police union and the district attorney investigators union.